Project Advice

Training

It is important that cycle training is included in your project whether you intend to take participants out on the roads or not, so that they are taught basic control and safety skills for their personal cycling development. Before including the cost of cycle training or bike maintenance in your funding bid, check if any of these can be funded by your Borough Council. If you are including staff costs in your budget you must indicate the hourly rate and the number of hours.

If you decide to provide cycle training through your project, you can either (a) train your own instructor or (b) work with external training providers. Please note, Walking and Cycling Grants London funding can’t fund both cycle instructor training costs and an hourly wage for the same person to later deliver cycle training. You can include the cost of an external training provider in your budget breakdown.

a) In-house cycle training – train your own instructor(s):

Cycle instructor training is an intensive 4-day course and participants will need to be competent cyclists before attending. In order to become fully qualified, there are two more assessment sessions after the initial 4-day training course.

You may choose to start your project working with external cycling instructors while training one or more of your own staff who, on completion of their training, can gradually take over the cycle training sessions.

Please contact your chosen training provider to obtain a quote to make sure you are budgeting for the right amount.

Borough Councils may provide free or subsidised cycle training sessions so it is worth checking with your local Council if they can cover cycle training costs or provide an instructor for your project. If this option is not available to you there are a variety of Cycle Training providers in London which you can easily find using a search engine such as Google.

c) Free adult cycle training for Londoners:

All London boroughs offer free adult cycle training. You may wish to encourage your staff and volunteers to attend a 1-2-1, bespoke session before your project commences so you are assured of their riding ability. Cycle training should also be promoted to your beneficiaries once your project is established.

You need to ensure you have sufficient resources to maintain bikes in a safe working order throughout the project and beyond. You are able to apply for funding to train individuals within your organisation or work with a service provider to deliver bike maintenance sessions and maintain the bikes your project owns. There are two kinds of mechanics training:

a) General training:

This covers a wide range of courses from essential maintenance (such as puncture repair and brake and gear maintenance) to more advanced courses (such as wheel building). Different training providers offer different courses and levels of training. Please check the providers’ websites for more details and to decide the most appropriate level of training that your mechanic(s) will need.

b) Professional training:

There are two kinds of professional mechanics training; City and Guilds and Cytech (each of them with three levels of accreditation). These are more in depth and hence more expensive courses. Please consider whether this level of training is necessary for the activities that your organisation will be delivering. For example, this course is recommended for projects running a build-a-bike scheme or restoring bikes to roadworthy condition.

Walking training

It is important that if your project involves led walks, the appropriate training is included in your project, to ensure that walk leaders are fully qualified and participants can get the most out of the project. You are able to apply for funding to train individuals in your organization, to help fulfil your project needs.

a) General training:

This can include a variety of courses from first aid, map reading, walk leader training and route planning. Different trainers offer different courses and levels of training. Please check the providers’ websites for more details and to decide the most appropriate level of training that your walk leaders will need.

Advice from 2018/19 projects

During the 2018/19 delivery period, case studies were carried out and some of the current project groups shared their insights from their first year of activities, offering some key tips for success to other existing or potential projects: